It's a wanderful life, so it is

Kranjska Gora

Back in 1991, when Mhairi and I were still courting, we booked a holiday to Kranjska Gora. The travel company cancelled it, however, when Slovenia declared independence and fighting broke out. Even with our rudimentary understanding of the Balkans, we knew the fighting would soon be over as this wasn’t the war the Yugoslavian National Army wanted to fight. We pleaded with them to wait a few weeks and keep our holiday. Unsuccessfully though. And, sure enough, it became known as the Ten Day War.

All these years later, we’ve finally been able to experience how spectacular it is here, even through the cloud cover! 😊

All of this may beg the question – had we been able to go to Kranjska Gora in 1991, might we be different people now? Living remotely, in nature, enjoying hills and fields, flowers and fauna? Going for long hikes every weekend, keeping a menagerie of pets, holidaying as campers perhaps?

Nah, absolutely no chance. We’re city people and love the concrete and the graffiti, the noises and the crowds, the buzz and the unpredictability, the people and the anonymity. But that also means we appreciate visiting the countryside for a bit and then getting back home, to whatever city that happens to be at the time. 😊 

Postojna Caves

For two million years, the Pivka river has been carving 15 miles of passageways, caverns, tunnels and chambers out of the nearby mountains.

But way cooler than witnessing first-hand the majestic power of nature to erode tons of rock and give birth to miles of eerie and entrancing underground landscapes was the absolutely cracking electric train that drove us through it. Choo choo!!

Another attraction at the site was an exhibiton of the tiny aquatic salamanders that live in the caves. It won’t come as a surprise to anyone that knows us that we didn’t visit it.
I felt sorry for the olms. I’m sure they are fascinating creatures with their own compelling story but they were being exploited as “Baby Dragons” because of some old legend. I briefly considered setting up a North Belfast version in one of the Cavehill caves, telling people that jelly beans used to be taken for baby whales. But you’re right, it’s a daft idea. I’d only have eaten all the jelly beans before the idea got off the ground.

Vogel and Lake Bohinj

Lake Bohinj lies about 17 miles from Bled and although it looked beautiful and offered the usual swimming, paddleboarding, sailing, etc. we were more interested in getting up high for a better view. Fortunately for us, others had the same idea and had very helpfully installed a cable car to transport us up a nearby mountain.

Vogel ski resort is, I’m sure, jam packed in the winter with skiers, but equally, in the summer with intrepid hikers like ourselves. At least that was the plan. The reality was slightly different.

The main cable car takes you up to the start of the ski resort. There are cafes, souvenir shops, playgrounds, and even a hotel. Ski lifts abound and are dotted all over the mountainside. These are free once you have paid for the main cable car, so off we trotted for an adventure.

There was a man in the know when we approached the first ski lift and he helpfully indicated where we should stand and explained that we needed to pull down the safety barrier to hold us in while we soared above the ski runs like the practised mountaineers we thought we were. The problem we had at the top was that there was no ‘man in the know’ and we hadn’t a clue how to get off! We pulled and pulled at the safety barrier with no success, until I realised we were resting our feet on the bottom bar and it was our substantial weight that was keeping it in place. Thankfully, there was no one around to witness our stupidity.

Off we set on our hike, only to turn back at the first steep approach. Yes, we could have gotten up, but getting down safely would have been a bridge too far.